I'm new here.

Hi, I'm new here. I'm past 60 and have had tinnitus since I was a small kid. It was no big deal then. It became a big deal ten years ago and I ended up in a hospital's psych ward. Whether or not I belonged there I don't know. I guess it helped. But nothing has ever helped the tinnitus and I went with the conventional wisdom you have to get use to it. And I kind of have. But the "kind of" is often marginal. Fortunately I have prescribed access to valium. Just having it is like a safety net. And I take the garden generic for ambien. Mostly, I try not to think about it. If I dwell on it then it can drive me up the wall. For that reason I'm surprised I'm here. But if I could find a solution, I mean if I could have a few good years without the crazy high pitch ringing in my ears I'd walk on hot coals. Of course, I'd like the solution before I took the walk

So I'm kind of scared to be here and kind of hopeful.

Thanks.

 

Welcome aboard! There is absolutely no reason for scared because you are finally amongst friends and support. You should be very,very,very hopeful because help is on the way. You will be amazed at all the brilliant people working towards relief and of course a cure. I find that the reading I do on the site is absolutely fascinating and makes me feel very positive about the future. please tell us some more about you got it at such a young age, etc. I would love to hear that.

 

Good to meet you trft. You know, walking on the hot coals would definitely take your mind off the T...

 

Thanks for the welcome. In response to the replies. Hmmm.... maybe pain therapy would work. Could be worth a try I didn't even know what the noise in my ears was when I was ten. It wasn't a problem. It was intermittent. I don't know at all but would guess ear infections might have been the cause. Reasons are cheap, but there is one by conventional tinnitus reason not to be here, and that is if you are here then you are thinking about it. Also I would moderate optimism, but that's me and probably has something to do with my age. However the fact that this site is here is evidence for optimism in general. And since I last studied tinnitus there are a few more things it appears to make it interesting. Again thanks, trft aka Tim.

 

trft,....glad to meet you

that tinnitus as a young person thing...wow i remember being alone in my room at night and hearing the sound of steam in my ears...even at the age of 10 i heard stuff

but then again there is research that indicates “normal" (what ever that is) people placed in a ultra quiet environment begin to report kinda sorta tinnitus sounds...but theirs goes away when they leave the sound proof room

and i guess their T never screams so loud that its hard to hear like many of us experience it

but just the same i could hear a low level of tinnitus all my life….then when i was around 40 years old i got whacked and best i can tell it was a combination of exposure to an ototoxic drug (propranolol) and noise ( plinking in the back yard with a 22, and yes i was a fool, no ear protection.

after a few years and help from some meds (benzos) i habituated quite well to the point where i did not hear it unless i was asked, “hey hows your tinnitus doing” , and even then i had to cup my hands over my ears to hear it ! ! !

but about a year ago i got wacked again...seems that medications and stress did it to me this time, but who knows, there is always that incidental accidental noise exposure, a kid throws a fire cracker near you on the 4th of july at the county fair, or I start up the car and kids left the radio volume up way high...or guy fires up his leaf blower near me as i walk by. stuff happens

so anyway, im back in the hot seat again...the difference this time is i know i can cope...its hard...its crazy and some days when it spikes i have a second drink, or bicycle 25 miles, or reach for a benzos or go to the movies or play guitar...what ever i have to do to keep from going over the edge...but i know i can get thru...i believe it, and so i do

yes its tru for some people going to tinnitus web sites just makes them focus more on T..but for me i find the time i do research, blog with people and try to analyze the science, and connect with other people, is strangely helpful and actually makes me stop concentrating on the sound of tinnitus and more on the science and friendships

i firmly believe that our attitude towards tinnitus is at least half the battle...i refuse to let tinnitus ruin my life any more than it has...and i....will...go...forward

hope you find care and support and interesting info here along the way

best wishes
mock turtle

 

Hi Trft, welcome to TT, If I may ask what happened to your T 10 years ago which set you back? Was it noise induced?

 

Hi Petloy. It's kind of like mock turtle's use of the word whacked. It's happened a few times. It happened again in early 2003. and my tinnitus just jumped up in volume and stayed there. I don't know why, and there was certainly no particular noise, like a gunshot, that occurred prior to the jump. And I have never had a clue why my chronic tinnitus has jumped up in volume. What finally set me back was I simply couldn't take it any more.